Friday, July 27, 2012

What drives the Obama doubters and haters?

The Washington Post
By David Maraniss, Friday, July 27, 2012

There are Obama doubters and haters out there who claim with righteous anger that they are “vetting” the president, something they say the mainstream media never did. Some of them have said that my new biography — unwittingly, they argue, for I am too dumb to understand what my research has unearthed — proves that Barack Obama’s defining memoir is phony and that his entire life is a fraud. My intent is not to defend Obama or his book; he can take care of himself, and I have my own questions about “Dreams From My Father,” which I make clear in my book. But when comparing the liberties Obama took with composite characters and compressed chronology — which he acknowledged in the introduction to his memoir — to the stretches his most virulent detractors have taken in building their various conspiracies, I believe that they are the frauds and fabricators.

Not all of them are “birthers,” but the notion that the president was not born in the United States remains at the epicenter of the anti-Obama mythology. Here is the conspiracy that would have had to exist if Barack Hussein Obama II were not born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 4, 1961:

First, the local newspapers would have had to have been in on the scheme, because they ran notices of his birth among all the other local births that week. Second, the Immigration and Naturalization Service would have had to have been covering something up, because INS officials were closely tracking Barack Obama Sr. when he was at the University of Hawaii on a student visa from Kenya. They thought that he was a bigamist — which he was, having married a woman in Kenya before coming to the States — and a womanizer, which he also was. INS documents in the weeks and months before and after the son’s birth clearly establish the father’s whereabouts and the birth of his son. Finally, the name of Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann, was unusual enough that doctors and nurses in Honolulu remembered it and her giving birth. One prominent doctor was asked by a young journalist if anything interesting had happened in the medical world that week, and he responded, “Well, Stanley had a baby!”

In tandem with the birther notion comes the idea that Obama is a secret Muslim. His Kenyan grandfather, Hussein Onyango, was Muslim; his Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, was Muslim; as a boy he was instructed in Islam at a school in Jakarta; and many of his college friends were Muslim. None of this adds up to Obama being Muslim, except in the minds of conspiratorialists. Obama never met his Kenyan grandfather. After infancy, he spent time with his Kenyan father only once, and in any case Barack Obama Sr. was an atheist. The truth is that Muslims had nothing to do with the rise of the Obamas of Kenya and that conservative evangelical Christians were essential every step of the way.

It was proselytizing Seventh-day Adventists who first came to the Obamas’ villages out near Lake Victoria at the start of the 20th century. They taught English and Western ways to the first wave of young boys from the Luo tribe, including Hussein Onyango. His son, the president’s father, was also educated at a missionary school. Later, as a young adult, Barack Obama Sr. was mentored by a remarkable evangelical Christian, Betty Mooney, whose grandfather was one of the founders of Texas Christian University. Mooney, who went to Kenya in the late 1950s to spread the gospel and literacy, met Obama Sr. in Nairobi and hired him to translate some of her literacy books into the Luo tribal language. She encouraged and helped sponsor his coming to the United States and specifically to the University of Hawaii, where he met Stanley Ann Dunham. One can say that President Obama would not exist except for evangelical Christians.

While living in Jakarta from ages 6 through 9, young Obama temporarily took the last name of his stepfather, Soetoro, for school purposes. He was listed as a Muslim on school documents because students were listed in the religion of their fathers. Lolo was not particularly religious; Stanley Ann was spiritual but not part of any formal religion. For most of his three-plus years in Indonesia, Obama attended a Catholic grade school. When his family moved to a better neighborhood in his final year, he went to the local grade school, one of the best in the city. The central doctrine taught at S.D. Besuki was not Islam but Pancasila, or five principles, of modern Indonesia, which evoked the unity of the islands on the vast archipelago, social justice and a belief in one God. Conservative Muslims detested Pacasilia (a Sanskrit word revealing Indonesia’s Hindu heritage), insisting that it was too liberal and open to too many religions and interpretations.

In both the issues of Obama’s birth and of his religion, documents and common sense lead in one direction. Obama’s doubters run the other way: His birth certificates must be fake; his espoused Christianity must be a cover. Another group of right-wing doubters hold on to the notion that Obama is a closet socialist, some sort of Manchurian candidate, an idea that his every move as a pragmatic liberal politician over the past 16 years has utterly disproved. Some others maintain that he was not smart enough to get into Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law, and too inept to write his own memoir, which one particularly obsessed conspiratorialist claims was penned by the former radical Bill Ayers. What about the well-written letters from Obama that are published in my book? Those, too, must be frauds slipped to me by the Obama administration.

In the introduction to my book, I took note of a sick political culture where “facts are so easily twisted for political purposes and where strange armies of ideological pseudo-historians roam the biographical fields in search of stray ammunition.” That sentence is now cited on right-wing Web sites as evidence that I hold them in contempt. True enough, one of the few accurate things that I’ve read from them. I do hold some of them in contempt, not because of their politics, nor because of their dislike of Obama. Political debate and disagreement are the lifeblood of American democracy. No, I hold them in contempt for the way they disregard facts and common sense and undermine the role of serious history as they concoct conspiracy theories that portray the president as dangerous, alien and less than American.

What drives them? Some of it can be attributed to the give-and-take of today’s harsh ideological divide. Some of it can be explained by the way misinformation spreads virally to millions of like-minded people, reinforcing preconceptions. And some of it, I believe, arises out of fears of demographic changes in this country, and out of racism.

Many conservatives still think Obama is a Muslim

Posted at 02:01 PM ET, 07/27/2012
WP
By Jamelle Bouie

Most of the conversation surrounding religion and the presidential election has been around Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. The Church of Latter-Day Saints is still a mystery to many Americans, and there were fears that Romney’s Mormonism would hurt him with voters unfamiliar with the religion. But the latest survey from the Pew Forum for Religion and Public life suggests that Romney has nothing to worry about — of the voters who know that Romney is a Mormon (60 percent), the vast majority say they are either comfortable with his faith (60 percent) or that it doesn’t matter at all (21 percent).

If you divide this along religious lines, the only people uncomfortable with Romney’s Mormonism are white evangelicals, black Protestants, atheists, and agnostics — only 43 percent of the former, for example, do not think that Mormonism is a Christian religion. Even still, more than half of white evangelicals are comfortable with Mormonism, and they overwhelmingly back Romney for the presidential election, showing the degree to which partisanship is a powerful force in elections.

Indeed, of the two candidates, religion actually seems to be a bigger factor for President Obama. Only 49 percent of voters know that Obama is a Christian, and 17 percent continue to say that he’s a Muslim. Among conservatives, 30 say that he is a Muslim; among the most conservative voters that jumps to 34 percent. When Pew first surveyed this question, in 2008, only 16 percent of conservatives believed that Obama was a Muslim. Put another way, as conservatives grew more familiar with Obama, their view of his religious beliefs moved deeper into fantasy.

In all likelihood, this is a product of partisanship. Among the most conservative Americans, beliefs about his citizenship and religious affiliation may have emerged as tribal identifiers — symbolic ideas that tie believers into a broader community.

My guess is that if Obama is elected to a second term, the number of conservatives who believe that he is a Muslim will continue to increase. As with liberals and George W. Bush, Obama’s standing with conservatives will only drop further as time goes on. Moreover, there’s little indication that Republican elites will challenge conservative beliefs about Obama’s religion or citizenship — in fact, they’re more likely to encourage them. Simply put, for as long as he’s around, a large portion of conservatives will continue to believe that Obama is fundamentally foreign.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

A Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry


updated 7/24/12
by Sheila Musaji

The American Muslim (TAM) has collected information about these individuals in this easy to use format.  Just click on the links provided to go to in-depth articles and backgrounders on these individuals.  There are a number of other individuals who should be included here, and they will be added, and this will be updated as time permits.


Ayaan Hirsi Ali - see TAM Responses collection

Al-Mutarajjam aka Al-Mutarjim and Translating Jihad *

American Enterprise Institute **

Zachariah Anani *

David Barton *

Glenn Beck (media) - see TAM Responses collection

Eliana Benador *

Rev. Flip Benham and Operation Save America *

Bonni Benstock-Intall and Bare Naked Islam *

Baron Boddisey (aka Ned May, aka Edward May) of Gates of Vienna: Islamophobia Manifesto Clearly Lays Out Plot Against Muslims **

Ret. Gen. William Boykin **

Ergun Mehmet Caner *

Capitol Congressional Ministries **

David Caton and the Florida Family Association **

Aubrey & Joyce Chernick and the Fairbrook Foundation (financier)  *****

Phyllis Chesler *

The Clarion Fund ***

Ann Coulter (media) - see TAM Responses collection

Nonie Darwish (aka Nahid Hyde) and Former Muslims United *

Rev. Maury Davis and the Cornerstone Church *

Alan Dershowitz - see TAM Responses collection

ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES: See Islamophobia no longer questioned - even by our elected representatives for an extensive collection of quotes by various representatives, politicians, and government officials.  The following are those who have so consistently engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric that they have their own backgrounder pages:
— Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) **
—Herman Cain, Presidential candidate **
—Newt Gingrich (R-GA)  **
—Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) **
—Rep. Peter King **
—Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) **
—Rick Santorum Former R-PA Senator, Presidential Candidate **
—Rep. Allen West, (R-FL)  **

Steven Emerson and the Investigative Project **

Joseph Farah and World Net Daily *

Bryan Fischer and The American Family Association **

Hugh Fitzgerald (an alias) of Jihad Watch *

Fjordman (aka Peder Jensen)  **

Brigitte Gabriel (aka Hanan Qahwaji, Nour Semaan, Rachael Cohen) and ACT for America ***

Dave Gaubatz *

Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy (anti-Sharia) ****

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs and AFDI/SIOA ***

Caroline Glick and LATMA **

Rev. Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse **

Daniel Greenfield aka Sultan Knish and The Religion of Peace *

John Guandolo *

Tawfik Hamid *

Sean Hannity (media) - see TAM Responses collection

David Horowitz and the Freedom Center *****

Warner Todd Houston *

Raymond Ibrahim and the Middle East Forum (MEF) **

Victoria Jackson *

Charles Jacobs and Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America CAMERA and David Project **

Rev. Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Christian Center *

Joe Kaufman & Americans Against Hate -  *

Sam Kharoba (fake counter-terrorism trainer) *

Alan Keyes and the Oak Initiative *

Charles Krauthammer (media)  - see TAM Responses collection

Michelle Malkin (media) - see TAM Responses collection

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) ***

Andrew McCarthy (media) see TAM Responses collection

Dr. Robert Morey *

Chuck Norris *

Bill O’Reilly (media) - see TAM Responses collection

Marty Peretz (media) - see TAM Responses collection

Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Values Voter Summit *

Walid Phares **

Daniel Pipes and the Middle East Forum (MEF)  ****

Dennis Prager (media) *

Rev. Pat Robertson **

Henry Rochejaquelein (an alias):  Robert Spencer Discovers Another Mystery “Expert” *

Guy Rodgers and ACT for America **

Nina Rosenwald & the Gatestone Institute **

Kamal Saleem (aka Khodor Shami) *

Michael Savage (media) - see TAM Responses collection

Debbie Schlussel **

Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum *

Roland Shirk of Jihad Watch *

Walid Shoebat **

Anis Shorrosh *

Ali Sina and Faith Freedom International *

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch and AFDI/SIOA ***

Mark Steyn (media) - see TAM Responses collection

Wafa Sultan *

Tom Trento and the Florida Security Council/United West Organizations *

Elizabeth Varet and the Varet Family Fund **

Ibn Warraq - see TAM Responses collection

Geert Wilders **

Bat Ye’or aka Gisele Littman **

Sheikh Yer’Mami aka Werner Reimann *

David Yerushalmi and SANE ****

NOTES:  Those in bold are key figures.  This list did contain the names of some Muslims who might be considered to be empowering or playing into the hands of the Islamophobes.  However, it has been suggested that their inclusion in this category might be confusing to some.  Therefore those names have been removed from this collection of key Islamophobes.


CRITICAL REPORTS ON THE ISLAMOPHOBIA INDUSTRY

    The ACLU report BLOCKING FAITH, FREEZING CHARITY: CHILLING MUSLIM CHARITABLE GIVING IN THE “WAR ON TERRORISM FINANCING”

    ACLU report Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical “Sharia Threat” to Our Judicial System 5/2011

    ADL report Anti-Muslim bigotry since 9/11

    Bureau of International Information Programs report MUSLIMS IN AMERICA: A STATISTICAL PORTRAIT

    CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) reports: WESTERN MUSLIM MINORITIES: INTEGRATION AND DISENFRANCHISEMENT; THE STATUS OF MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES 2009: Seeking Full Inclusion;  THE MOSQUE IN AMERICA: A NATIONAL PORTRAIT; and CAIR and the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender (CRG) report Same Hate, New Target:  Islamophobia and its impact in the United States  6/23/11

    The Center for American Progress (CAP) report UNDERSTANDING SHARIAH LAW:  Conservatives’ Skewed Interpretation Needs Debunking, by Wajahat Ali and Matthew Duss.

    Center for American Progress report FEAR INC.: THE ROOTS OF THE ISLAMOPHOBIA NETWORK IN AMERICA.  The key researchers for this report were Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir.  The report itself is the result of a six month investigative project, and is 132 pages in length. Article about the report, with article collection here 8/26/11

    Communique Partners report Western Perception of Islam and Muslims 2005

    Hope Not Hate Campaign report Counter-Jihad’ Movement profiles over 100 individuals who are central to the international anti-Muslim network

    The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding published A Portion of the People: Islam in a ‘Christian’ America

    MAPOS The MUSLIM AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY by Matt A. Barreto, University of Washington and Karam Dana, Harvard University

    MPAC published COUNTERPRODUCTIVE COUNTERTERRORISM: HOW ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS IS UNDERMINING AMERICA’s HOMELAND SECURITY  Several myths abound regarding the role of American Muslims in counterterrorism policy, the most prominent and problematic of which paints the American Muslim community as a threat to America’s national security. In fact, the American Muslim community is an asset to law enforcement in their shared goal to root out terrorism and extremism. The source of suspicion of American Muslims stems from false accusations of American Muslim organizations.

    New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) White Paper Religious Freedom Under Attack:  The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State charts rising anti-Muslim trends.  8/2011

    People for the American Way (PFAW) report The Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism  7/2011

    Political Research Associates report MANUFACTURING THE MUSLIM MENACE: PRIVATE FIRMS, PUBLIC SERVANTS, AND THE THREAT TO RIGHTS AND SECURITY

    Political Research Associates report Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, & Scapegoating by Chip Berlet

    SPLC published Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle by Robert Steinback in their Summer 2011 Intelligence Report 6/11

The CAP Fear, Inc. report includes:  Funders - Donors Capital Fund; Richard Mellon Scaife Foundation;  Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation; Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation and Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust;  Russell Berrie Foundation,  Anchorage Charitable Fund and William Rosenwald Family Fund; Fairbrook Foundation.  Misinformation Experts - • Frank Gaffney at the Center for Security Policy;  • David Yerushalmi at the Society of Americans for National Existence;  • Daniel Pipes at the Middle East Forum • Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch and Stop Islamization of America;  • Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

The Hope Not Hate reports lists 100 key players.  Their top 12 players include:  Europe - Anders Gravers, Lars Hedegaard, Peder Nostvold Jensen, Stephen Lennon, Ann Marchini, Geert Wilders.  U.S. - Christine Brim, Brigitte Gabriel, Pamela Geller, David Horowitz, Robert Spencer, David Yerushalmi.

The PFAW discusses eight strategies employed by anti-Muslim activists to cast doubt on the validity of Islam as a religion and the integrity of American Muslims in order to justify prejudice and illegal discrimination:  Framing American Muslims as dangerous to America; Twisting statistics and using fake research to “prove” the Muslim threat; Inventing the danger of “creeping Sharia”; Justifying taking away freedoms and liberties from Muslims in order to “defend liberty”; Denying the validity of Islam as a religion; Arguing that Muslims have no First Amendment rights under the Constitution; Linking anti-Muslim prejudice to anti-Obama rhetoric; Slandering progressives and non-Christians as unholy and anti-American

The Political Research Associates report includes:  Trainers, Instructors, and Speakers - Mark A. Gabriel, David Gaubatz, Walid Phares, Clare M. Lopez, Tawfik Hamid, Stephen Coughlin, Nonie Darwish, Det. Ebrahim Ashabi, Walid Shoebat.  The Industry - International Counter Terrorism Officers Assoc. (ICTOA), Security Solutions International (SSI), Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre).

The SPLC list of active anti-Muslim groups by state.  This list includes:  9/11 Christian Center at Ground Zero, Aggressive Christianity, The American Defense League, American Freedom Defense Initiative, Atlas Shrugs, Bare Naked Islam, Casa D’Ice Signs, Christian Action Network, Christian Guardians, Christian Phalange, Citizen Warrior, Concerned American Citizens, Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, Escaping Islam, Faith Freedom, Insight USA, Islam: the Religion of Peace , and a big stack of dead bodies), Jihad Watch, Political Islam, Radio Jihad, Sharia Awareness Action Network, Silver Bullet Gun Oil, Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), Sultan Knish a blog by Daniel Greenfield, Tennessee Freedom Coalition, The United West, U.S. Justice Foundation.

The SPLC Anti-Muslim Inner Circle report includes:  Bill French, Center for the Study of Political Islam - Brigitte Gabriel, ACT! for America and American Council for Truth - David Gaubatz, Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) - Pamela Geller, Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), Stop the Islamization of Nations (SION) - David Horowitz, Front Page Magazine, David Horowitz Freedom Center - John Joseph Jay, Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) - Terry Jones, Dove World Outreach Center - Debbie Schlussel - Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), Stop the Islamization of Nations (SION) - David Yerushalmi, Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), Stop the Madrassa

There is a reason that many, even outside of the Muslim community see such demonization of Muslims as Islamophobic.  There is a reason that the ADL has stated that Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America, Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE)  are “groups that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”.  There is a reason that The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group, and that they are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle.  There is a reason that Geller and Spencer are featured prominently in the Center for American Progress “Fear Inc.” report on the Islamophobia network in America.  There is a reason that Geller is featured in the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism.  There is a reason that Geller is featured in the NYCLU report Religious Freedom Under Attack:  The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State.  There is a reason that Geller is featured in the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security.  There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature.  There is a reason that they are featured (with extensive backgrounder articles) in our TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.  There is a reason that these individuals are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.

These people consistently promote the what everyone “knows” lies about Islam and Muslims.   They generalize specific incidents to reflect on all Muslims or all of Islam.   When they are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence.

The claim that “truth tellers” are being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia is nonsense.  The further claim that the fact that there are fewer hate crimes against Muslims than against Jews also proves that Islamophobia doesn’t exist is more nonsense.

The reason that this is so obvious to so many is that rational people can tell the difference between legitimate concerns and bigoted stereotypes.   The Islamophobia of these folks is very real, and it is also strikingly similar to a previous generations’ anti-Semitism.  SEE ALSO: —  Islamophobia no longer questioned - even by our elected representatives for a lengthy list of anti-Muslim, Islamobophic quotes by elected representatives and government representatives.  —  Christian brotherly love is difficult for some to obtain for anti-Muslim quotes by Christians including Christian clergypeople.  Members of this group include: Rev. Jerry Falwell, Bryan Fisher (American Family Association), Rev. Franklin Graham, Rev. John Hagee, Rev. Rod Parsley,  Rev. Pat Robertson (Christian Coalition, 700 Club), etc. —  Jewish “Ahavah shel achvah” Brotherly Love is Difficult for Some to Attain for anti-Muslim quotes by Jews including Rabbis. — Islamophobia:  Real or Imagined - TAM article collection There would appear to be an Islamophobia industry engaged in what Max Blumenthal calls a Great Islamophobic Crusade.  In regard to the production of “Relentless”,  “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War on the West” and “The Third Jihad” TAM has published this article and Richard Silverstein has discussed the anti-Muslim propaganda during the last election cycle here, and the money trail between these groups here  and here DEFINITION OF ISLAMOPHOBIA The Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the Center for Race and Gender has the best working definition I have seen:

    The term “Islamophobia” was first introduced as a concept in a 1991 Runnymede Trust Report and defined as “unfounded hostility towards Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.” The term was coined in the context of Muslims in the UK in particular and Europe in general, and formulated based on the more common “xenophobia” framework. The report pointed to prevailing attitudes that incorporate the following beliefs: •Islam is monolithic and cannot adapt to new realities •Islam does not share common values with other major faiths •Islam as a religion is inferior to the West.  It is archaic, barbaric, and irrational. •Islam is a religion of violence and supports terrorism. •Islam is a violent political ideology. For the purposes of anchoring the current research and documentation project, we provide the following working definition: Islamophobia is a contrived fear or prejudice fomented by the existing Eurocentric and Orientalist global power structure.  It is directed at a perceived or real Muslim threat through the maintenance and extension of existing disparities in economic, political, social and cultural relations, while rationalizing the necessity to deploy violence as a tool to achieve “civilizational rehab” of the target communities (Muslim or otherwise).  Islamophobia reintroduces and reaffirms a global racial structure through which resource distribution disparities are maintained and extended.